Out & About Spring 2018

GERALDINE GARDNER

EDITOR

W elcome to the spring edition of Out & About. The magazine has had a bit of a spring clean itself recently and I hope that you enjoy the features and lifestyle, leisure and health & wellbeing articles in this issue. Spring may be the season of new beginnings, but Newbury Spring Festival celebrates its fortieth year with a strong lineup of world-class talent and we take a look at what’s in store (p29). In his column (p7) Jonathan Hopson writes about random acts of kindness and the way people rally round to offer support in times of crisis. It was just such support that helped writer Vanessa Lafaye as she faced up to what she called her stalker – the diagnosis of terminal cancer. Vanessa died at the end of February, but in November Angela Knight visited her in her Marlborough home to talk to her about her books and her blog (p56). Everyone deals with traumatic events in different ways and Vanessa started her blog – Living while Dying – as an outlet for the anger she felt about her illness. Her frank, but also funny, descriptions of the highs and lows of her condition were read

and appreciated by many worldwide and, to her own surprise, she discovered a community of strangers who remained with her throughout her illness. “I had loads of strangers saying ‘I will stay with you, I’m not going anywhere’.” Her attitude to her illness is probably best summed up in her own words in her final blog, which Vanessa wrote during a trip to Australia and New Zealand with her husband at the beginning of this year: “Many people close to me thought it was ill- advised, too strenuous, even dangerous to drag my sick old carcass across the world when I need such close medical attention... “I was determined to do this, one last big blow- out of an adventure, because it is the last and I couldn’t bear to miss it. And I have always had a problem with people telling me that I can’t do things.” The journey did take its toll, but she finished her blog on a high: “But I still say: it was worth it to have this experience, to show the universe one more time that I CAN DO IT.”

Editor’s picks

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Cover feature

Restaurant review

Gardening

23 WALKING WITH ALPACAS: Charlotte Booth joins the Wyld Court trek in Ashampstead, with the funny-faced, cuddly looking creatures

48 HENRY & JOE’S:

74

PLANTING PERFECTION: Gain inspiration from Hortus Loci nursery in Hook, suppliers to top designers at Chelsea Flower Show, says Martin Robertshaw

Hilary Scott reluctantly share the secret of a tasty new restaurant in Newbury

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